Why Your Medicare Premium Went Up (IRMAA Explained 2026)

Did your Medicare premium suddenly increase?

You may be affected by IRMAA (Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount)—a Medicare surcharge based on your income from two years ago.

In this episode, local Medicare expert Amanda from I'm With Amanda breaks down:

What IRMAA is and why it impacts your Medicare costs
2026 income thresholds and premium increases
How IRMAA is calculated using your tax return
How to file an appeal using the SSA-44 form
Common mistakes (like Roth conversions) that can trigger higher premiums
Strategies to reduce or avoid IRMAA

If you live in Central New York and have questions about Medicare costs, premiums, or IRMAA, this video will help you understand your options and avoid overpaying.

🌐 Learn more: https://imwithamanda.com/

https://imwithamanda.com/

00:00 – Intro: What Is IRMAA & Why You Got That Letter
00:26 – Why Medicare Premiums Can Increase
00:55 – What IRMAA Actually Means (Simple Explanation)
01:25 – How IRMAA Is Calculated Each Year
01:53 – When You’ll Get an IRMAA Letter
02:04 – Why IRMAA Is Based on Income From 2 Years Ago
02:30 – 2026 IRMAA Income Brackets Explained
03:05 – Married vs Single Income Thresholds
03:29 – How Much IRMAA Can Increase Your Premium
03:50 – Real Example: $450K Income Breakdown
04:13 – Single Filers: Key IRMAA Thresholds
04:45 – Life Changes That Can Reduce IRMAA
05:26 – What Is the SSA-44 Form (How to Appeal IRMAA)
05:49 – Qualifying Life Events That Lower IRMAA
06:33 – Documents You Need for an IRMAA Appeal
07:24 – Important Warning: Be Accurate With Income
08:01 – What Does NOT Qualify for IRMAA Reduction
08:27 – Roth Conversions & IRMAA (Big Mistake to Avoid)
09:06 – How to Plan Ahead to Avoid IRMAA
09:35 – Final Takeaways: Lowering Your Medicare Costs
10:11 – How to Get Help With IRMAA Questions


#Medicare #IRMAA #MedicareCosts #MedicareTips #RetirementPlanning #MedicarePremiums #SocialSecurity #FinancialPlanning #MedicareEducation #AEP2026 #InsuranceTips

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Hello everybody, welcome back to the I'm with Amanda Medicare podcast. Um, coming to you today from sunny spring-like central New York. Um, such a treat to have some sunshine. Uh it's been a while, so hopefully you're enjoying the same thing. Um, today's topic is very timely. I recently posted about this on LinkedIn and got a lot of traffic and questions, so I figured it was a good topic to discuss with you. Um, and really what we're gonna talk about is that answer to wait a second, I just got a letter that tells me that I'm gonna owe more premium because my income was higher. Um, the answer is yes, that does happen. A lot of people don't realize that the price you pay or the you know premium that you pay for Medicare can be based on income. Um it's called IRMA. What's Irma? Who's IRMA? Um, not who, really what. So IRA stands for an income-related monthly adjustment amount, and it is a surcharge that's assessed above and beyond the standard premium, which this year is $202.90, um assessed by Medicare, the federal government on Medicare beneficiaries who have income over certain thresholds. Um, a couple things that are important to know about IRMA, they are assessed annually. So it's not the case that if you have one one time, you're always going to be stuck with that. Um, every year, Social Security is gonna pull your federal tax return. They're gonna look at your modified, adjusted gross income. If it's under the threshold, you'll never even hear a peep about this IRMA stuff. Um, if it's over the threshold, you're gonna get a letter. Typically comes around Thanksgiving, happy holidays, uh, to let you know that for the coming year you're gonna have a higher Medicare premium. It'll also let you know if maybe income is lower and coming into the next year your IRMA surcharge will go away. We always love those letters. So, a couple things, um, again, I do want people to know that the adjusted gross income the Social Security considers is based on two years prior. So here we are in April of 2026. Um, if you're starting Medicare this year, um, Social Security will look at your 2024 adjusted gross income and determine whether or not you owe an increased Medicare premium. Let's look at those income parameters. So here on the screen, you should see the income brackets where those IRMA or income-related monthly adjustment amounts are gonna start creeping in. Um, again, since it's 2026, this would be based on your 2024 adjusted gross income. Um, it depends how you file your taxes. So if you are a married tax filer versus a single or head of household um or married filing separately, um, they do have different income parameters. I'm gonna talk about the two most common. I'm gonna start with the married filing joint. Um, what you'll see here is if your income is too under 218,000, there would be no adjusted premium. Um, if you're at 218,000 and even one cent, you're gonna fall into that first income uh related bracket. So what you'll see here is as income increases, so does the additional surcharge that they add to your standard monthly premium. So when you have an income-related adjustment, there is both a Part B uh monthly adjustment and when you enroll in prescription drug coverage, there is an additional Part D income-related adjustment. So to figure out what you would owe, let's just say you're a married couple, your income was $450,000 adjusted gross in 2024. It's gonna be the standard premium of $202.90 plus $446.30 plus $83.30. That's the total amount that Medicare is gonna bill you on a monthly basis for your Medicare premium. For single tax filers, um, that income threshold starts at $109,000, sort of the magic number there. Um, and again, you'll see that the increase is the same amount. It's just about half of what you'd pay or how much income you could have if you filed a married uh jointly tax return. So again, single um under $109,000 of adjusted gross income, there would be no Irma surcharge. Married filing jointly under $218,000, there would be no um IRMA surcharge. If you file a different way, just pay attention to that. But those are the two most common that we see. I also wanted to talk about, so life changes, right? Things happen. Maybe someone in 2024 was still working, earning, right? Still had that income coming in. But in 2026, they aren't working anymore, right? They had a life event, they had something happen that's changed their income snapshot. There is actually a process by which you can give that information to Medicare, Social Security, and ask them to base your current premium on what your current income is rather than what they saw from 2024. So I want to talk about that a little bit. It is called um the at the form is SSA-44. If you type that right into your Google browser, that form is gonna pop up. Um, it's a pretty long document. There's only three pages that really need anything. Um, but on that form, they're gonna list the different life events that would qualify you for the option of asking Medicare to reassess that premium. So you'll see the most, these are the these are the lists. This is the full list, there's nothing else. Um, it would be that you were married, that you had a divorce, that maybe you unfortunately lost a spouse. Um, work stoppage or work reduction would be obviously a retirement, or you maybe cut back your hours to part-time, so your income now is less than what it was showing in 2024. That's probably the most common. Loss of income producing property would be like a federally declared disaster and you lost a property, right? And now you're not having the income from that anymore like you did in 2024. Maybe um you had a reduction in pension, maybe someone mismanaged funds, I don't know. Um, but your pension income isn't the same as it was before. Or also an employer settlement payment. So maybe a a former employer had a bankruptcy or reorganized, and they made a one-time payout to you that really increased your adjusted gross income for that one particular year, but that was fluky. Um, so if you've had one of these life events between 2024 and now, um, you'd have to submit some documentation along with a form letting them know current income, what the life event was, with some proof of that. So, usually, like for work stoppage, it would be a separation letter from your employer saying, you know, Amanda retired January 1st, 2025. We're so sad to see her go. Um, we would submit that along with the SSA 44 form. And if you already have your previous year, so 2025 tax return done and you can show proof that that income is lower, that makes approval for these much more likely. I would say um if you don't have your filed return or like something formally showing what your current income is, I think the best option is to reach out to your tax professional or your accountant to ask them if they could prepare a statement for you. Um, unfortunately, if you state that your income is less and when in the future Social Security pulls that return to look at it, if it was misstated, they could recoup premiums that were due. So you really do want to be thorough. Uh, you really do want to be accurate in the documentation that you provide, but there is absolutely no reason to pay more premiums than are due uh based on the fact that you qualify for one of these life events. I want to note a couple of things that are not on this form because that's almost as important as what is. Um, the reason I got a lot of discussion on my LinkedIn post that I mentioned is because I was talking about a Roth conversion. Um, I'm not gonna get into whether or not Roth conversions make sense for somebody. Um, I certainly think there's a lot of benefits to it. So not if you should do a Roth conversion, but when. Um, certainly two years before you start Medicare. So you don't want that income to count, right? In that in that income uh snapshot. So things like Roth conversions, maybe a distribution from a 401k to buy a condo, um, pay for a wedding, help someone with college, um, all of those things are going to file into your adjusted gross income. And those are not qualifying or life-changing events that would make you eligible for reconsideration. So I think anything that you can finish up or or plan for, you know, two years before you start Medicare, and you obviously want to talk to your financial planner, and you obviously want to talk to your accountant about the timing of that. But anything that's two years before you start Medicare, you never have to worry about it accidentally increasing your IRMA premium. So hopefully that was a quick introduction um to what IRMA, not who, but what IRMA, those income-related monthly adjustment uh payments even are, um, how they're calculated, what your additional premium would be, and more importantly, how and when you could ask for reconsideration so that you're not paying extra premiums um longer than you need to. Remember, Social Security will automatically reassess them every year, but why pay extra premiums for the duration of 2026 if you had a qualifying life event um since 2024 that can help you bring those costs down? Um, if you have questions, I know Irma is a little complicated. Um, this might not be something that you've ever heard of before. Feel free to send questions to the info at I'm withamanda.com email. Um, I'm also gonna post this to my LinkedIn, so that'll be an easy way to find it, as well as on the website. So thank you so much for listening. Um, hopefully this will be helpful for you if you are stuck with those Irma costs. And we're happy to help. So hope to hear from you. Don't forget to like and subscribe. Thank you. Thanks for listening to another episode of the I'm with Amanda Medicare podcast. Please make sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcast so you don't miss an episode. Also, please leave a review as that helps you reach more people that can benefit from this podcast's content. If you have questions or topics you want me to cover for a future episode, please email them to info at iMwithAmanda.com. I look forward to hearing from you. Like any good industry, we do have compliance requirements. So here's my disclosure. We are not a government agency. We are licensed insurance agents who discuss insurance programs such as Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplements, and Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage. Any specific plan information I provide is limited to the plans I offer in your area. Please contact Medicare.gov or 1 800 Medicare to get information on all of your options. Thank you.